Three jihadists, equipped with Belgian police uniforms, four Kalashnikov
assault rifles, handguns and explosives, were planning to kill police
officers, according to reports

Heavily armed Belgian terrorists killed on Thursday by special forces in a raid on their apartment in Verviers were planning to kill police officers in public and in police stations, state prosecutors said.

Two jihadists who were recently returned from Syria were killed in the raid, near the German border with Belgium.

After the raid, police found four Kalashnikov AK47 rifles, four handguns, ammunition and explosives. The terrorist cell was also equipped with police uniforms, radio, false documentation and an import sum of cash.

“The investigation has determined that the group was on the point of a terrorist attack to kill police officers on the street or in police stations,” said Eric Van der Sypt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutors.

Officials have refused to confirm or deny the identity of two men named locally as those killed on Thursday night.

“The identification of the two suspects, this who were killed, is in progress,” said Mr Van der Sypt. “We have a very fair idea of who they are.”

The fates of two Verviétois men were reported in Belgium as being of concern to their families, who were trying to find out last night what had happened to them.

According to Sudpresse, both Redwane Hajaoui or Redouane Hagaoui, also known as Abu Khalid Al Maghribi, and Tarik Jadaoun, also known as Abu Hamza Belgiki, had returned from Syria.

"Redwane and Tarik’s families are waiting for one thing: to know the identities to be reassured,” said the newspaper.

"They are not aware of what is going on and they are afraid for their children."

Redwane Hajaoui, left, also known as Abu Khalid Al Maghribi and Tarik Jadaoun, right, also known as Abu Hamza Belgiki

A third man was shot in the abdomen and seriously injured. He was named on Thursday as Marouane E, aged 25.

He faces five criminal charges including participation in a terrorist organisation, possession of explosives with intent to commit an attack, prohibited possession and discharge of firearms.

He denies all charges and Didier De Quévy, his lawyer, told police that his client has never been to Syria, denies terrorism and claims to have been with the two dead suspects because of a drugs deal.

Marouane E. has no criminal record and, his lawyer said, he jumped out the window to avoid the shootout. He denies having any relationship with the two jihadists killed.

According to La Meuse, a local newspaper, Mr De Quévy said documents were found in the apartment linking the suspected terror cell to threats against newsagents because they were selling the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo.

Belgian police executed 12 search warrants on Thursday night leading to 13 arrests in Belgium and the two deaths in Verviers.

Most of the arrests, nine, were in Molenbeek, a poor immigrant quarter of Brussels, where a handgun, mentions and mobile telephones were seized by police.

“We have arrested the people we wanted to arrest but I cannot confirm that we arrested everyone in this group,” said Mr Van der Sypt. “This group was specific to Belgium. The operation began several weeks ago before the attacks in Paris.”

Two additional arrests were made in France of suspects, thought to be Belgian, linked to the suspected terror network in Belgium.

“I can not give any specifics of these arrests,” said the federal prosecutor.

Belgian federal prosecutor has refused to comment on French reports that the operation followed intelligence from the United States.

The terrorist network also planned to seize a passenger bus and take hostages, according to press reports.

Major Jewish schools in Brussels and Antwerp were closed on Friday after a heightened terror threat the by Jewish community’s internal security service.

Belgium’s terror alert status has been raised to “three”, on a scale of four, meaning that another attack is "possible or probable”.

Eric Van der Sypt, a federal prosecutor said that there was “no link at this stage to the Paris attacks” last week which left 17 people dead.

“The investigation started a few weeks ago before the attacks in Paris, I would like to stress,” Mr Van der Sypt said. “This operation stopped a major terrorist attack from taking place. You could say a second potential Paris has been averted.”

He added: "The possible attack could have taken place within a matter of hours."

The successful operation will raise questions in France about why the authorities were unable to take similar action to prevent the attacks.

Police carried out searches in more than 10 properties in Brussels, Verviers and Halle-Vilvoorde as part of an investigation into extremists returning from Syria, authorities said.

“During the investigation we found that this group was about to commit a terrorist attack in Belgium,” a statement said. “When the search warrants were executed in Verviers the suspects immediately opened fire with automatic weapons on special police forces. They opened fire for several minutes before being neutralised. Two were killed and a third person who survived has been arrested.

Belgian police officers guard a street in Verviers (AP)

“During this operation no police or civilians were harmed. The investigation is still going on.”

Police sources have suggested that the raids in Belgium are part of an international operation in seven countries including Yemen.

Local residents in Verviers, in the east of the country, heard a fusillade of machine gun shots and explosions.

A local resident said: “I heard two explosions and saw two young men run away. They were between 25 and 30 years of Arab origin.”

Another resident told RTBF television: “I was just going to pick up my kids from school. We saw a blue van and another car in the middle of the street.

“At first I thought it was an accident. But then we saw police cars right down the street. A man walking on the street fled. I’m started running. Immediately afterwards we heard three or four large explosions and gunfire.”

There are two prominent anti-terror trials or verdicts looming in Belgium.

In May a 29-year-old Frenchman recently returned from Syria, Mehdi Nemmouche, walked into a Jewish museum in Brussels and killed four people.

His trial is due to begin shortly.

The trial of 46 alleged Islamist extremists, accused of brainwashing young men in Belgium into travelling to Syria, is ongoing in Antwerp, with a verdict due next month.

Belgian prosecutors have linked the British hate preacher Anjem Choudary to Fouad Belkacem, the leader of a now-disbanded extremist group, Sharia4Belgium, which was established under Choudary’s guidance to campaign for sharia law in that country.

"The operation was not linked to this trial or its postponemnet," said the federal prosecutor.

Around 250 Belgians are thought to have travelled to Syria to take place in the country's civil war.